Ex-guitarist of Dance Gavin Dance and father of his new project Good Health, Zac Garren has made a long way from being a roadie with Dance Gavin Dance to producing his first independent album. Just starting in September of 2009, Garren has released three full albums and a 7” split with progressive rock band Adelphia to be released May 2010. Maybe you would think Garren would stick with his post-hardcore roots, but no, everything has changed; his psychedelic acoustic project is steadily becoming more and more popular with leading songs like “Babybird” and “Ch0k3”. His music is all self-produced including the album covers and his sales, plus his music videos are home-made; he is a true indie artist.
First with debut album Son, Shine, his follow-up Good Health II, and finally his newest release Are You As Excited About Me As I Am?, Good Health is going to be one of those artists that you either find unappealing, or just plain-out fantastic. You can compare it very loosely to a very young, modern day Bob Dylan minus a little folk, and better guitar riffs.
Are You As Excited About Me As I Am? is by far his best release. Songs like “Baila” and “Thunder & Lightning” have fantastic openings and follow through greatly. Each song has its own taste, with a little funk there (Thunder & Lightning), some latino-type music here (The Game), and a dash of country somewhere (Here With Me [Anywhere But]). He really tries to make each song unique in its own sense with inspiring lyrics, and phenomenal jams. One of things that could use some work, are the vocals. He isn't known for his vocal performance, but he tries and succeeds for the most part. One song shouldn't have been put in this album and that's "Actually I Would (Would You?)"; The vocals get annoying and the guitar doesn't even pick up. It pretty much is below average and I tend to skip over it. The rest of the CD makes up for it, because once you're done with that track you enter to the best part of the album, "Disasters". Ironically, it's not a disaster, it's amazing; the song gets stuck in my head everyday. It battles with "Babybird" for my favorite track spot by this artist.
Really, people have given me mixed criticism on Good Health, but I can’t judge whether you like it or not. Listen to the YouTube video above, and if you like it, I could hook you up with this newest release.
Favorite Tracks: Baila, Disasters, Thunder & Lightning, Here With Me, Soccer
Disliked Tracks: Actually, I Would (Would You?)
TEZ Rating: 9.25/10
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